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Is St. Louis County Going to Charge Commercial Photographers Who Shoot in Their Parks?

Can St. Louis County officials charge photographers for taking pictures in their parks?

That question was raised this week when someone posted a photo on Reddit of a new sign in a St. Louis County park that reads in all caps: "Professional photographers are required to obtain a commercial photography permit to shoot in all St. Louis County parks."

The policy is effective as of April 1, the sign says.

Tom Ott, director of the county parks department, however, tells Daily RFT that the sign has since been removed, and there's been no formal policy change. At least not yet.

Here's the full sign, which was posted by Reddit user SYGAC this week and was shared on Twitter (which is how we first saw it yesterday):

Ott explains that officials are considering requiring commercial photographers to get permits, much like other business operations in the parks; the county would collect some sort of fee through these permits.

He says that individuals who run exercice classes in the park, for example, need to get permits. The photo-shoot policy may be similar to this, and it would be fairly standard, he says.